Infestation 11.1
|previous=Interlude 10.5|next=Infestation 11.2}} is the first chapter of Infestation. Taylor has Nightmares; Skitter explores her new lair; Taylor meets her dad while running. Plot Taylor dreams of a scenario where she tries to infiltrate Coil's base and free Dinah. When she arrives at the room Dinah is held in, Coil is present and Dinah dead, which she immediately realises means she has failed. She experiences two realities, one where she stabs him and one where he blows dust into her face that renders her suggestable. Her makes her remove her mask and then calls her "pet" as he does for Dinah. He then removes his own mask, revealing himself as her father. Taylor wakes in a sweat and has to quickly reassure herself that it was just a dream, since it had felt far too close to real. She dwells on Dinah and the awful possibility that the girl reaches a point where she can never be part of society again after her months in captivity. Despite a long time dislike of contact lenses, she puts some in and then takes some time surveying her new base, which is situated in the Boardwalk area of the Docks. She considers the top floor to belong to 'Taylor', as it contains her living spaces, with functional television and internet in contrast to the vast majority of the city. The second floor belongs to 'Skitter', containing things that her costumed self with use and serving as a possible audience room. Terrariums with some spiders living in them line the walls, but the floor is still awaiting more work to be complete. The ground floor is similar to an apartment, though it has a lot of unused space. Taylor finds it hard to enjoy these luxuries, because they have been provided by Coil. Skitter calls up Coil and requests to borrow eight men and a truck but explains she doesn't need gunmen and doesn't need them urgently. Coil tells her they will be there in an hour, which leaves her with a lot of time to wait. Despite initial concerns that the state of the city is not very suitable for her usual morning run, Taylor decides to do so anyway after arming herself with pepper spray and a knife, and hiding some bugs about her person. Looking in the mirror, she feels more confident in her physical condition now than she had before she started her cape career, but reflects on the fact that her current issues are more psychological. Taylor leaves the base through the storm drains out onto the beach, an exit and entrance method designed to prevent too much constant attention being drawn to the building and to let her leave in civilian clothing without giving away her identity. The beach has been cleared of debris by the construction teams already, however as she runs along she comes across an eighteen wheeler truck and a bulldozer that have been deliberately pushed or driven off of the boardwalk. The gang sign of the Merchants indicates their responsibility, the once irrelevant group now a major force in the city due to everybody else being 'brought down to their level' by Leviathan's attack. She starts contemplating the ways she will deal with the inevitability of their attacks on her territory and the inevitable retaliation after she drives off initial forays, but is interrupted from her thoughts by the voice of her dad. Taylor quickly identifies from his attire that Danny is in charge of the construction workers operating around the beach. He confirms that he has recieves the messages Taylor has left for him on his answering machine and tells her he misses her. He makes it clear that she is free to return home at any time, although she doesn't give much response to this. When she says she will leave him her cell phone number and email address via answer message, he questions where she is living to have access to a computer with internet. She lies that she is just outside the city and lies again that she was in the area to check on the house during her run. As Danny has to cut off the conversation due to work that requires his attention, Taylor warns him about the presence of the Slaughterhouse Nine in the city, indicating that they are the reason she has removed her glasses for contact lenses. Returning to her base, Skitter quickly fits her glasses lenses to the inside of the goggles of her mask. As Coil's men arrives, she puts on the mask and prepares to move to claim her territory. Major Events *Taylor starts experiencing nightmares. *Skitter sets out to claim territory in Brockton Bay. Trivia *Only time we see Danny at his job. *Further evidence of the expansion of the Merchants. *Star wars reference in the nightmare. *Skitters problems with pattern recognition come up again when she worries the abstract painting she got might look like something else.I stared at the painting for a minute, seriously worried that I would see the abstract image from a different angle and realize I’d had Coil get me a eight-foot by five-foot painting of a hairy wang or a headless chicken or something. - Infestation 11.1 Characters Site Navigation Category:Chapters